It’s that time of year: The MacArthur Foundation has released the names of its 2017 "genius" grant recipients, and much to design enthusiasts’ delight, two architects have made the unequivocally prestigious list. The honors go to landscape architect Kate Orff, founding principal of New York-based Scape, and designer and urban planner Damon Rich, co-founder of Hector and founder of the nonprofit Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), who will each receive the fellowship’s no-strings-attached $625,000 stipend over the course of five years to further pursue their work and creative endeavors.

Orff, who was honored as a 2014 AD Innovator and also teaches at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), was lauded by the MacArthur Foundation for her commitment to "designing adaptive and resilient urban habitats." Her projects, which in many ways seek to imagine the field of landscape architecture, have included books and exhibitions as well as plans for city parks, coastlines, and beyond. Rich’s work is also deeply rooted in the city, and is praised by the foundation for "creating vivid and witty strategies to design and build places that are more democratic and accountable to their residents." His most recent, and perhaps most notable, work has been with the city of Newark, for which he served as the chief urban designer and director of planning from 2008 to 2015, reimagining development for a modern city.

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